MINUTES MOSIER CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 6, 2017

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1 MINUTES MOSIER CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 6, 2017 I II III IV V CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Burns called meeting to order at 6:31 pm. Council: All Council members except Marc Berry were in attendance. Staff: City Manager, Colleen Coleman, City Attorney, Laura Westmeyer Audience: Mosier resident, Kathy Long Business from the Audience Mosier Valley resident Rebecca Thistlewaite sent a letter to City Council dated 12/6/17 inquiring whether the City had done research on the amount of short-term rentals in Mosier and potential policy solutions to ensure affordable housing availability in future. Mayor Burns said yes, affordable housing is part of our strategic planning effort and asked that Council proceed with current agenda. Councilor Wallace thanked Ms. Thistlewaite for her concern and noted that it is an important issue. Approval of City Council Meeting Minutes for 11/15/2017. Council Member Reed corrected wording around the city truck discussion. Mayor Burns agreed. Council member Wallace motioned to approve minutes with said correction. Council Member Gries seconded. All approved. BUSINESS Anne Mitchell - Rural Development Initiative First Impressions Program. Ms. Mitchell was moved further down the agenda due to winter driving/traffic coming from Portland. Jim Winterbottom Waste Connections - Mr. Winterbottom described his reason for meeting City Council to apprise the community of a 2.11% increase in waste collection fees. The increase would amount to 11 cents per month per residential household and 21 cents per month per dumpster. Mayor Burns said it sounded reasonable. A discussion ensued around recycling conditions, given China s recent refusal to accept American mixed recyclables and the need for a public information campaign. Mr. Winterbottom responded saying he was working with Tri County Hazardous Waste and Recycling on a public information piece as they move forward. Further discussion ensued around acceptable vs. unacceptable materials and the need for better sorting. Mayor Burns mentioned the need for a zero-waste campaign going in the Gorge. Mr. Winterbottom mentioned Emerald Solutions was working on several programs with Tri Counties, and other organizations in the Gorge. Councilor Gries motioned to approve

2 the Waste Connections 2.11% increase in waste collection fees. Councilor Wallace seconded. All approved. Mike Renault, Mosier Fire District - Resolution Authorizing Fire District to administer Mosier Municipal Code Chptr for Outdoor Burn Permits. Interim Fire Chief, Mike Renault, presented his proposal to the City Council to administer the outdoor burn permits for both the Mosier Valley and City of Mosier residents. Mayor Burns wanted to be sure that the burn permit would be valid for a year and that it would be void during regulated fire closure season. Mr. Renault assured Council it would and that permit holders would be fined if they burned during regulated closure. Discussion continued around past practices and that there had been a time when the fire chief issued all burn permits. Mayor Burns asked Chief Renault what his office hours are. He replied that he is in the office Monday 2-9pm; Wednesday 2-8pm; Friday, 9-5; and Saturday, 9-5. Councilor Reed motioned to pass the Resolution authorizing the Mosier Fire District to administer Mosier Municipal Code Chptr 8.35 for Outdoor Burn Permits. Councilor Van Osdol seconded. All approved. Discussion continued around Chief Renault s role and he explained he is interim fire chief and contracted for another year as training supervisor. Mayor Burns asked if Well 2 could be used for fire hydrants to avoid dirtying the water when hydrants are flushed. Chief Renault wasn t sure, but thought the fire hydrants could be flushed more regularly to improve both the water system and fire hydrant function. The Mayor asked that they indeed be flushed more regularly Intergovernmental Agreement in Support of a Community Development Block Grant. City manager explained that this is a two-year program that is being renewed and that City Council approved the program initially in Known as the Mid-Columbia Home Agreement Plan, this program, administered by Mid Columbia Housing provides funding for home repairs for homeowners at the federal low - and mid-income levels. It is sponsored by the Hood River and Wasco County communities of Cascade Locks, Mosier, The Dalles, Dufur and Maupin. Mayor Burns asked that we find what is the federal low income. See here for the City manager s findings: Councilor Acasia Berry moved to approve the IGA in support of a Community Development Block Grant. Councilor Wallace seconded. All approved. Laura Westmeyer - Intergovernmental Agreement for holding Joint Use Facility funds between City of Mosier and Mosier Fire District. City Attorney, Laura Westmeyer presented an IGA agreement for the purpose of holding settlement funds from UPRR and funds awarded to the City from the State of Oregon HB 5006 (2017) for a joint use facility. Mayor Burns and City Councilors discussed that the City and Fire District meet within 90 days of the IGA agreement to form a joint fire/city committee with the same number of members from the city and the fire

3 a. 8. district. The committee would be responsible for overseeing future use of the funds and the Council asked that the funds not be spent without joint agreement of the committee. Council also asked that the minutes reflect that it is our understanding through discussions with Team Mosier that in the event that the joint use facility does not move forward, that the appropriate percentage of the UPRR funds are returned to the City. It is also an understanding that both city and fire district be equally involved in fundraising for the joint use facility. Councilor Reed moved to approve the IGA for holding Joint Use Facility funds between City of Mosier and Mosier Fire District. Councilor Van Osdol seconded. All approved. Resolution to Authorize the Application of a USDA Agriculture Rural Development Loan and Grant to Provide Financial Assistance for Implementation of the City s 2016 Water System Plan. Council discussion centered around recalling the Council meeting where the City Engineer and City Manager presented the City Water system funding packages available to the City and Council approval of the 40%grant and 60% loan from the USDA. Then Council discussed authorization of the Mayor and City Manager as signatories for the loan application. Councilor Reed moved to authorize the Application of the USDA Rural Development Loan and Grant with Mayor and City Manager as Signatory. Councilor Gries seconded. All approved. Acceptance of Marc Berry s resignation as of December 31, Council made a declaration to accept Councilor Berry s resignation and formally declared a vacancy on Council. Discussion of Interested Candidates for City Council. It was announced that Witt Anderson was interested and would be submitting an application. Also, Councilor Reed suggested the Council ask Susan Froelich if she is still interested. Mayor Burns agreed to call Susan Froelich. It was also announced that the position would be posted on the City website and applications need to be in by January 3 rd, Council meeting, at which point the Council will vote and decide upon the new member. Anne Mitchell - Rural Development Initiative (RDI) First Impressions Program. Ms. Mitchell arrived and greeted Council. Mayor Burns welcomed her to Mosier and asked that she describe the First Impressions Program. She said that RDI is a non-profit that has several programs to assist small communities with economic development throughout Oregon. The First Impressions program was started last year and is designed to provide an objective assessment of visitors first impressions of commercial infrastructure, wayfinding, signage, customer service and what can be done to keep visitors in the community for a longer period of time. Once the assessment is done, the First Impressions team provides a presentation to Council and proposes a priority project to implement that improves the customer experience of the city. Projects are focused on low hanging fruit 90 days duration. Discussion ensued around the need to get buy-in from local businesses and inquiry about examples of how the

4 projects were implemented in other cities our size. Ms. Mitchell provided the example of the town of Oak Ridge, which is working on Mountain Bike tourism. First Impressions program found that if a visitor is in the bike shop the theme of Mountain Bike tourism comes across, but if not, the theme is not obvious. The First Impressions project for Oak Ridge was to find two business owners who were open to hanging a poster about Oak Ridge Mountain Bike Trails in their store windows. Discussion continued around businesses that may compete with one another. Ms. Mitchell s response was that often the program serves to bring City businesses together to see that when one is successful, they re all successful. Mayor Burns inquired about costs. Ms. Mitchell replied that it required a 10% match, which would typically be about $550.00, but some of that could be in kind. Mayor Burns asked about timing. Ms. Mitchell said she d like to get started as soon as possible and the project has a 90-day timeframe. Council agreed to move forward with RDI s First Impressions program. Staff Committee Report - Team Mosier Agreement Signed! City attorney, Laura Westmeyer announced that the Team Mosier agreement had been signed and that Council needs to appoint a working group member for implementing the agreement moving forward. Councilor Gries moved that Council appoint Arlene. Councilor Wallace seconded. All approved. Discussion continued around details of the agreement, including a celebration to include the entire community and thank Bob and Terry Moore for his service; the need for an environmental phase I assessment on the land being awarded to the City prior to the City s acceptance of the deed. Also, Council asked DEQ. Announcements - Councilor Reed announced that Kathy Fitzpatrick would be leaving the Watershed Council and asked if anyone would be willing to attend. After some discussion around the requirement of four meetings per year, Colleen Coleman agreed to attend. - Councilor Gries asked about the non-functioning street lights on Idaho street. The city manager explained that she has been in communication with Pacific Power about changing the heads to LED lights and would report more after the holidays. - Mayor Burns provided a report on her trip to the North American Climate Summit in Chicago. And described the agreement she signed along with other Mayors from across the country to focus on actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions to match the Paris accord. - Council members also announced the annual tree lighting sponsored by Downtown Mosier and winter performance at Mosier School, as well as the Gorge open studios events. - Councilor Acasia Berry announced the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council recommended to Governor Inslee to deny Tesoro Savage Terminal their lease.

5 Council meeting was adjourned at 8:40 pm. Approved this 3 rd day of January, 2018: Attest: Mayor Arlene Burns Colleen Coleman, City Manager